Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The Growing Evidence for Antidepressants as Anticancer Agents

Prostaglandins are infinitesimal, ephemeral lipid signalers in every cell in the body, and regulating every activity that takes place within a cell. As regulators of cellular activity, prostaglandins influence how cells are formed and what part of the body the cell will become. lithium are vital for cellular growth, health, and replication. Prostaglandins regulate the normal life cycle of a cell, knowing when each cell must be repaired and when each one is beyond repair and has reached the end of its cycle.

Laboratory animal experiments in the 1960s demonstrated a powerful influence of prostaglandins on the brains of the animals and birds. Subsequent experiments showed that lithium and every antidepressant tested inhibit prostaglandins. Excessive synthesis of prostaglandins activates a number of mechanisms that result in cancer. Cancer cells grow too fast and multiply too rapidly. They aren’t repaired and don’t die at the end of their cycle. Excessive synthesis of prostaglandins disrupts the signaling mechanisms in which cells communicate with each other. It hinders optimum performance of the immune system, weakening it and turning it against itself. The weakened immune system allows cancer cells to thrive. About 20% of cancers are caused by pathogenic, or disease-causing, microbes. By inhibiting prostaglandins, lithium and antidepressants stimulate immune function and defeat microbes.